On Writing: Exposition - magic systems and worldbuilding [ Avatar l Rowling l Inception l Asimov ]
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
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Hey everyone! If you'd like to support this sort of educational content, I'd love for you to join our patreon-discord community for just a couple of dollars a month: www.patreon.com/hellofutureme QotD: What is one of the best worldbuilt stories that is *not well known* ? I'm really enjoying Leviathan Wakes by James A Corey (which is what the Expanse is based on, I think). Let me know yours down in the comments below!
~ Tim
Hello Future Me early squad
Hi
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I gotta recommend the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik (again) for worldbuilding. It has to introduce not only a world full of dragons, but also a world full of dragons 200 years ago (1800s). Not only do you learn about how dragons work in this world, you also have to learn about how mundane life works because the difference in time and technology and society leaves you nearly as a fish out of water as the multi-ton flying lizards thing. Going in, you know just as much about Chinese court life or the British navy as you do dragons (unless you are a total history nerd, in which case you get to see how these things change with the introduction of dragons).
The series also starts off small- one dragon, a Western European country. Then later on you are introduced to stranger variants of dragons, societies more affected by the presence of dragons, and cultures across the world. It's a series that I adore and wish was better known.
I wonder how this video is going to bring up Avatar: TLA
Same. I subscribed to this channel because he always talks about my favorite show. I love it.
Seriously, the show deserves the amount of respect this channel gives it!
4:14 there it is! XD
I’m several years behind everyone on this page and I already have this same question almost every video 😅
I'd like to add a side-note to your side-note. The thing about Tolkien's essay on Hobbits was part of the preface, not the forward, however the important thing to remember is that the preface is superfluous to the actual book and is inserted at the end of the Return of the King just before the readings of the Appendices. He didn't incorporate it into the actual text of the story, and reserved exposition within the story to mostly plot relevant details.
The fact that LotR references things that would appear in the Silmarillion without actually explaining them is in my opinion part of why he was able to remain internally consistent and why his Legendarium is so popular.
Mine is from the game Tooth and Tail. Is a story of a cannivalistic revolution in a fantasy animal nation in which by playing under each different faction you get enough to understand and sometimes simpathize for everyone. Very nice gameplay too~
Mercades Lackey's Elemental Masters series is a good example of world building. Especially, the book Phoenix and Ashes.. That's a great one to start on.
i just recently started to read the gentleman bastard series and IT'S AMAZING. the world and how they explain it, leaving details in descriptions that expresses world building. i have no words for how good it is, you should check it out if you're interested in a semi-realistic fantasy book about smart boys/teenagers robbing rich people, mystery, wonderful characters and been just plain fun in a fantasy version of Venecia. i would go on more detail but i don't want to spoil it. love the video by the way.
My favorite example of worldbuilding is in Lirael by Garth Nix. It's the second book in the series, but I didn't know that. (Even now, I suggest reading the last two [Lirael and Abhorsen] before the first [Sabriel] due to certain mysteries being resolved before the second book begins.) Even jumping in the middle of the series, I was never lost; I had questions, but worked some out as I read.
Yes, it wasnt possible for you to select a better time to upload. Just when i was in the mood of learning and needed something to watch while exercisising!
Guardians of Ga’hoole, by Kathryn Lasky, has some pretty cool exposition.
The 1632 series is definitely worth checking out.
I don't know if it's still fairly unknown, but Beyonders by Brandon Mull is very well done in terms of world building (and everything else for that matter)
Victoria Schwab's world in her duology This Savage Song is amazing! I really enjoyed reading it.
I think Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard series has some of the most incredible and well delivered worldbuilding. Also, Timothy Zahn's Dragonback series is really underappreciated, it's got a Star Wars like universe but with a really unique take on dragons.
Please take a look at The Dragon Prince. I've just watched the first premier and would really like to see it being compared alongside Sanderson's books, Avatar/Korra, FMA, etc. both in terms of world building and magic systems. I'd even patreon for it.
Great video! Coincidentally enough, I love the world of The Leviathan trilogy by Scott Westerfeld. It's set in an alternative universe at the beginning of the First World War where the Triple Alliance is steampunk-ish and the Triple Entente is kind of biopunk-ish. The worldbuilding as well as characters and the story are excellent and charming, although the writing is a little simplicistic (kind of a middle-grade/YA blend). I highly recommend it!
Literally just finished watching part 1 and SURPRISE part 2 is uploaded!
#clutch
I would have to say Ive been enjoying the worldbuilding of RE: Zero, it has a perfect blend of "Aha, this is the lore you are talking about" and "Wait what the fuck is this, but I thought it was different" because of subversion of expectation of typical tropes that *actually* works really well in the context of the whole story.
Sanderson is a great teacher btw :)
The Broken Kingdoms trilogy by N.K. Jemisin has amazing world building.
Violet Evergarden has some really interesting ways to solve exposition and worldbuilding.
One of my favorite fictional worlds is Llangarlia, in Sara Douglass' The Troy Game.
The story is very adult, and starts in ancient Greece after a cataclysmic event destroys most of the ancient world and a pack of Trojan survivors, including the lost King head to a promised land of Llangarlia.
Its smutty, but it's well written fantasy smut, lol.
So I actually dont know how known this world is outside of germany, but I am going to assume pretty unknown.
The author Bernhard Hennen did a great series of books, that all cover the same world but in different storys. On first glance it pretty much is a "tolkien" fantasy book, because there are elves and trolls and humans and gnomes and all that jazz. But when you continue reading this books they are fantastic, in worldbuilding and story (I think currently there are 18 books in whole. 5 the elves, 5 the dragonelves and then a few smaller series which come back to some events that are mentioned through the main story and which he chose to write more on.) There are pretty much 2 main characters, which are in totally different worlds and dont really have anything to do with each other. One is the character who knows a whole heap of stuff, but needs to adjust because her whole live just changed, the other one is the same, but he gets memorys of dozens of people implanted and dosnt really explain much after understanding his situation better.
Honestly, one of my favorite worlds in media is the world of Toriko. It's world building is just *chef kiss*
Q: What is one of the best worldbuilt stories that is not well known?
A: The one that I am still working on. I hope I do it justice so that the reader will enjoy it as much as I do.
The Dying earth books has an interesting world to it
Any of the games made by Supergiant Games, it's one of their biggest strong suits
"It was a warm evening in Camor when the thiefmaker came to visit the eyeless priest in the temple of Perelandro."
Not an exact quote but somehow like this starts the first Lock Lamora-book from Scott Lynch. Instead of an exposition dump, we jump right at these two characters having a discussion. It was quite a good entry, because the discussion they would have turned out to be intriguing and I wanted to learn more. And over the course of the book and the next books, we would get bits and pieces of exposition sewn in between.
Yet, these first lines just bugged me because I didn't know who they were!!! I like to imagine the scenes I read in books, yet I didn't know if the eyeless priest was a he or she, fat or thin, clad in rich garments in a prosperous temple or poor cloths in a humble building (he, fat, poor btw). This is the only grip I have with this method of starting your story.
Jonathan Stroud did it better with the Bartimaeus-trilogy in my opinion. He also jumped into action, yet he gave short descriptions of the characters and surroundings by presenting the thoughts of the titular hero.
I am a fan of Arth, from the Dark Profit Saga by J. Zachary Pine.
I think the aim of the reveal of midichlorians was to emphasize and legitimize how much of a chosen one Anakin was. If you set up a quantifiable value for the amount of 'Force' someone has, it is easier to make someone seem strong or important without actually showing them using such powers. I am not saying it was the perfect example, as you have rightly stated, it served little purpose in the overall story of the movie. Though I wanted to ask, would you consider the reveal a good example of exposition, had it been woven into the plot properly?
I know this is a writing channel or you have a writing series, but I have to read your videos too? Is it good practice?
Watching videos about this is A LOT better for me than reading shit online because I’d rather read something that I can’t get to any other way.
And audio books are useful. I still like having physical books, just like I prefer physical albums, video games, movies, etc. That can now be put into a digital form because it’s a lot easier to get rid of something digital.
Video games: God of War has incredible exposition. The fact that the Witch of the Woods constantly helps you, and then when you learn her name the characters suddenly want nothing to do with her, was shocking and exciting and mysterious.
Mass Effect is similarly extremely effective. What’s fascinating is that your character lives in the world, so much of the exposition has to be environmental and implied. And at the same time, your character is chasing down a mystery so s/he gets to be the I knowledgeable character.
Bad exposition: The terrible flashbacks in Annihilation. The world of the story is fascinating and mysterious and exciting, and learning that mind control is being used cranks the tension to 11.
AND THEN THE MOPIEST, DOPIEST, BORINGEST, INCONSEQUENTIALIST FLASHBACKS ABOUT THE NARRATOR’S DAD PAINTING GOES ON FOR 5 PAGES ABD COMPLETELY WRECKS ALL PACING. Very frustrating.
Could you make a video explaining every single different dragon in HTTYD?
I want to send this video to about 90% of all anime writers ever.
Gregor The Overlander
It's probably a good thing Tolkien didn't explain how Gandalf could fight the Balrog it would've taken him chapters to explain what you did in a paragraph
It’s midnight. Why am I wat- Shhh 🤫
*my inner self starts speaking
“Just go with it, just spend 5 hours writing, it’ll be okay.”
It's almost morning here
I did this. Like 3 days ago. It was not okay, but the story came out good so...
#relatable
It's 3:41am here
I think, Point 3: Repect your audience, they'll figure stuff out... Is the most important. You can cleverly explain your lore with clues, rather than dumping an encyclopedia on the reader. If you can do this, your backstory will be an intriguing treat rather than a chore.
Encyclopedia of backstories is what Appendices are for! And are therefore completely optional reading (ala Tolkien).
True. Tim brought up a good example about The Road. People scavenging through the ruins of a charred landscape says enough. Details about the war could be a reveal later.
Poisonedblade Yeah. And even with appendices, you should write your story in a way that gives info even if the reader doesn't look at the appendix.
Yeah, the appendixes found in video games like the Witcher are great. Optional for people who want a ton of backstory. They're interesting and rewarding if you want to read them, but they don't slow down the action.
In other words, write a book assuming most of your audience is somewhat intelligent: if you treat them like they're idiots, you're gonna write a book for idiots - boring and just too much to swallow. :)
Would you be interested in doing more character writing videos and about character groups and interaction? I’ve made an entire alternate universe with detailed history but I’m stuck at characters personalities, relationships, development and also world culture.
Definitely! This series is not dedicated to worldbuilding or big-picture stuff. We will be looking at stuff like that someday.
~ Tim
Hello Future Me Oh Shoot you replied. Thank you, this series is fantastic, I’ve been pulled out of school since about 2 years ago due to illness and writing is the only thing that’s remained in my mind and kept me sane.
I recommend taking inspiration from the people around you. Idk about development and world culture tho. My advice is to think about the main personality traits they have. Look at how you would interact with your siblings and friends. And try to base it off that. Maybe that can help.
Amber Beam I'm in pretty much the opposite place as you--I have a knack for making characters breathe, but when it comes to plot or worldbuilding, I struggle a great deal. One trick I use is to actually work backwards--start with the character's behaviors, beliefs, or personality and ask what experiences or inherent traits might be behind it.
Say I have a mage character, and that's all you have. Where did they learn magic? The character's mother taught him.
How did she learn? She worked in a library that had many magical tomes, and would always take a few home with her.
How long did his mother do this? She started bringing books home to read to her darling son when he was only three years old, teaching him to love reading and learning at such a young age; he actually became quite the bookworm, spending his afternoons after school in the library with his mom.
How does this behavior affect the character? How do his classmates treat him? Perhaps this passion makes him a target for bullies, which means he has personal enemies at the start of the campaign for you to use in your stories. Maybe he gains a reputation for his intelligence, and students start offering him their lunch money in exchange for help on (or just plain doing) their homework.
Why does the character leave to start on their quest? Maybe one day he finds something he shouldn't have: a book on demonology or blood magic. In his curiosity and in hopes of making his mother proud, he takes the book home planning to cast one of the more difficult rituals. But something goes wrong, the ritual curses him and nearly costs him his life; in order to remove the curse, he must journey to a distant country to find a paladin mighty enough for the task before the unholy magic kills him, or worse, corrupts him entirely.
I'd highly recommend a specific channel for just this sort of thing.
How to avoid dumb character backstories: ruclips.net/video/BugFN73U71w/видео.html
Making a better character using quirks: ruclips.net/video/T2wqkZNKIlM/видео.html
6 steps to creating your perfect character: ruclips.net/video/poNYN7-1B-E/видео.html
^^^The comments above are very good advice^^^
The main problem with the midichlorians scene that I see is that it's not even well done exposition. What's it's trying to say is "There are these microbes that help us measure and connect to the force, which is still mysterious and magical." but it comes off as "The force is microbes and not mystical at all." which is a failure of the writing.
Yeah I always felt that either A: Midichlorians were the *how* of the connection between the force and force-sensitives, but not the what, or why of the force. Or B: they were merely attracted to force sensitives and didn't do anything at all beyond living.
Thank you to giving voice to what I've not been able to adequately phrase. Just now, I reread the page about it in Wookiepedia and... uuggghhh... talking about things like midi-chlorian count per cells, determining how powerful a jedi can be... especially with how Anakin was concieved by midichlorians, completely takes the impetus off of all the characters in the story. We could literally start talking about how the Jedi are like the Saiyans and other races in DB/DBZ. "Like: Why did Anakin beat Count Dooku in their final meeting?"
"Well, Billy, he grew up as a character, yes, but more importantly his midichlorian microbe to cell count was OVER 9000!"
Imagine if the original trilogy had been written like the prequels. The first scene would have been Leia and Capt. Antilles discussing all of the details of the plans, Vaders star destroyer, etc for 5 minutes while moving as little as possible and showing no emotion. On Tatooine R2-D2 would have told C-3PO all about his mission with C-3P2 relaying every detail to the viewer, etc.
It also adds a plot hole. Why don't people take a bunch of midiclorlians and inject themselves with it? Or run experiments? Why aren't the Jedi children tested when they come in? Why doesn't the empire test every prisoner or a bunch of people and get rid of the ones with high counts? Or better yet test all children and keep the ones who have high counts and train them?
When your exposition gives more questions and more plot holes then just staying quiet, DON'T say it!
I couldn't spell it better. Great job!
I really like Watership Down's worldbuilding, it's very unique! Richard Adams did a great job of showing our world from the perspective of rabbits and making it simultaneously alien and familiar. This was an awesome and super helpful video as always!
What he also did a very good job at was burning the image of rabbits slaughtering each other into my memory for the rest of my life
Madoka Magica has huge plot twists and rules kept hidden to the audience until they have a devastating impact on the story. What I like of the anime is that these rules, when you watch it a second time, are always consistent even when not revealed, and not thrown out of the blue and invented almost on the spot as in the universe of harry potter. I highly suggest watching it if you don't know it!
This is a great video and there is an additional point that Ellen Brock brings up.
Your audience ONLY needs the backstory for the current chapter and maybe the next one, not the entire book.
So if you are a lore heavy, just keep that in mind. "Do they need to know this yet?"
I love Ellen Brock's videos, but if you stop and think, you realize that Tolkien didn't care for that at all. Not only he didn't care for this, he didn't care for most of what is considered basic writing advice... And as George R.R. Martin said, "Be compared to Tolkien is the greatest compliment you can give to any fantasy writer... Tokien essentially created modern fantasy."
@@rafaelcavalcantibiz yeah, but in time of Tolkien this arms race of who can grab the reader's attention the quickest didn't start yet.
Yes, Tolkien didn't care about that at all, his writing is heavy of info dump that in big parts never gets relevant for the actual conflict and sommetimes gives you the impression that you are reading a history book instead of a Novel. That's why Tolkien is actually not very good at creating entertaining and suspenseful writing and IMHO is heavily overrated. Tolkiens fame is due to the fact that he was among the first authors to write modern fantasy, i.e. a story set in a fantastical completely fictional world by his own creation, so he does deserve credit for that, but modern Fantasy authors who came after him did it in a much more compelling and entertaining way. If someone tried to get a book published today that copies Tolkien's style 1:1, including the 10.000 words inconsequential info dump before the story has even starded, publishers would reject it. I read the Lord of the Rings and I did kinda like it overall, but there were times in which I was severely tempted to put that tedious snooze-fest of a book down and never pick it up again. The pacing was horribly slow.
Rafael Cavalcanti I found Tolkien too hard to read when I was young and when I got older I chose to skip text that was too difficult to grasp. It was, to me, too much details to understand, and without the conscious choice of skipping text I’d re-read a paragraph too many times. I dont feel that word-intelligent, but I love lotr ‘despite’ the writing style, not ‘because of it’. Not saying you are entitled to your opinion, just adding mine. For balance.
@@chrisrudolf9839 Yeah, I kept falling asleep in the LOTR books. Then when Gandalf goes on for 200 pages about his adventures, you know he survives because he is telling the story. Steven Erikson is even worse. He'll interrupt a scene and talk about the history of the hill they are fighting on for 2 or 3 pages, and you forget what was going on. And he writes like an encyclopedia, so you can't even visualize what he is saying. "1000 years ago, General Karn and his 5,000 warriors held this hill from a southern invasion. The battle..."
I know you don't usually cover game stories, but the world building for the Dark Souls series is fantastic. Very little is explained to the player through clear exposition, but by studying the environment, enemies and magic the player can find clear histories and rules
I'm late (as French as it is), but I want you to know I absolutely love Dark Souls, and it is one of the most influential pieces of art for both me and my writing inspirations (with Berserk, of course, among others).
I quite like the world-building that's going on in the Attack On Titan anime (I haven't read the manga, though). It's set up as a simple "humans vs. mysterious monsters" world, and the audience learns more about that through character backstory (which usually comes up during interactions with other characters or at moments of dramatic tension), and through the characters themselves learning more about what's going on in their little isolated world as they fight against the Titans.
The viewer naturally wants to know how this situation came to be, and it answers that question gradually without adding more questions. Well, it does, but they all ultimately relate back to "how did this happen?". The smaller questions get answered earlier while the bigger ones get answered later
The discworld has some of the best world building in my opnion
I got one of those books and ragequited at the prologue.
@@Fif0l which one? I'd love to recommend another one if you disliked it.
The discworld has some of the best footnotes in my opinion.
ironicallynice amen😂
@@Fif0l don't leave us hanging
The Pokémon world, in the anime is one of the greatest world building I’ve ever seen. Even though the story is very simple, the world around the characters is so alive and immersive that it’s just fascinating to think about.
This channel is an exposition dump for future writers
Midichlorians also hurt Star Wars because the audience thought the force was just your force of will and you could be a Jedi if you trained.
The Phantom Menace just said, "Nah, it's bacteria."
Poisonedblade no
Except it was always a part of the lore that some people had the natural gift and others didn't.
'The Force is strong in my family. My father has it, I have it, my sister has it.'. If anyone who had the will to train could use the force, this statement wouldn't work.
I never saw it as a natural gift.
Japanese karate is strong in my family. My father trained in Japan and became a 2nd Kyu Brown Belt. I become one of the best fighters in CA and later went on to do stunt work for Marvel. My brother became a green belt.
No bacteria needed.
@@Poisonedblade
Are you sure there are no karate bacteria?
Because this story sounds infectious!
Elsa Frost, funny thing is that I do have a genetic mutation that gives me enhanced cardio, so I can train twice as long as other people. I thought they were just lazy. I ended up in the hospital at one point and they scanned me and found out my heart has extra muscles. So my backstory is more like the X-Men, than midichlorians. Then I felt bad for thinking everyone else was just lazy.
Excellent video as usual Tim. I really appreciate your in depth analysis and I find that a lot of what you talk about helps me as a story writer in being critical of my own work and even helps me fill in gaps. Sometimes things you will say will also help me in confirming that something I had already put into my story was done well without me previously having someone explain that it was so it gives me more confidence in the strength of my story. Can't wait for the religion part 2 video!
Same man! His videos really go a long way to help me better understand the Art of Storytelling! It's so awesome! :)
3:39 hmm difficult to say, but I'm inclined to disagree. The explanation of the midichlorians is part of the theme of symbiosis or mutual dependence that we also see in several other parts of the film, which is meaningful to the story as a whole beyond the sole film. It links the natural with the spiritual (as in the more "classical" animistic and Eastern religions), in oposition and contrast to the cold and mechanical, later on even relating these ideas to the Empire and the Dark Side (or as seen in Anakin's transformation into Vader). Also, they only literally show one thing and explain another: That it's a way to see how much potential in the Force someone has (it had to be clear about why Anakin was special, the counting would leave no doubts about the "Chosen One" as he's compared to Yoda). What it explains is simply that "they communicate the will of the Force", the Force being a separate entity altogether, and still it doesn't explain what the "Force" itself is, or how it works.
Still, I loved this video, it was great and very inspiring!
I really enjoyed the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull. You start by meeting characters and they seek out the answers to weirdness, then when they find the answers, we as readers get the exposition dump. Perfectly follows the mystery and revelation setup talked about in the first video. Also helps that the answers they find are really cool.
I really liked Patrick Rothfus' the Name of the Wind series, I just wish he'd write the third book already
Is he not already doing that? ^^
thats just a dream T.T
The Wheel of Time will always have a special place in my heart for its world- and magic system-building.
To be fair James Luceno perfectly explains the relationship between the Force and the midiclorians in the novel Darth Plaguies. And the novel is bloody fantastic and a must read.
Problem 1: a book is not the movies
+Asanjawa Star Wars isn't a movie franchise it is a multi-media franchise and has been since its inception in the 70s. Star Wars also relies on its expanded universe to explain things that the movies glossed over.
@@JediAcolyte94 I know that, but people only see it as the movies
+Asanjawa Those people don't realize how good or how vast the Star Wars universe really is. And it is a shame as they are really missing out on a lot of good stories that rival, surpass, or exceed those in other fictional universes whether that be Marvel, DC, video games, or anime.
@@JediAcolyte94 True, but that's the problem with franchises who started/made their debut as movies and games. Most people don't actually look further into it which is a shame, and it's happening to basically all franchises like star wars, warcraft or warhammer
It is not obscure by any means, but Attack on Titan is a big inspiration for me, the worldbuilding and exposure is so natural and layered, that moment when you get a sudden info dump is the same moment there's a huge plot twist to the story, making it very memorable.
"I was wondering, what are midichlorians?"
"It's heroin."
have you referenced the inheritance cycle before; I don't know how well known it is but I loved it. sometimes it had clunky exposition, other times I think it was done well, usually explaining after the fact
Personally, the Inheritance Cycle was the first book series that got me into reading. I'd say it is decently well known, if not exactly known by name (most people I know who do know the series just know it as the "Eragon series", and usually only know the first two books). It's in that weird space between obscurity and simple lack of discussion.
damn, you put it so much better than I did, you also put a smile on my face
QOTD: For me, it's the Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix.
Oof! I loved that world. The different levels of the underworld, the necromancers as a different form of magic than the charter mages, the hero being the only good necromancer... oh, there was so much there I liked. Too bad the writing sometimes bogged it down.
Abhorsen and Nix need more love.
The young wizards series by Diane Duane has some really unique world building by mixing sci-fi and fantasy elements. It has spells, ancient godlike beings, and talking animals. And it also has aliens, robots, and time travel. Another thing that sets it apart from other fantasy books is that they’re not fighting a “bad guy”. They fight a being called the lone power, who represents entropy (the eventual death of everything including the universe). A very cool series that I recommend to fans of both genres.
a question as a writer going for a specific type of story: i have a fantasy world with a very hard magic system. however, the storytelling aspect of it, is that the reader only knows as much as the main characters know, which is only what theyve been able to observe through using magic due to backstory. how would i then explain the way that magic works without doing a classic villain speech at the beginning, giving the main characters an edge that they use to win their battle with him?
Made in Abyss revels in discovering the unknown and meeting new and mysterious characters. Exposition and worldbuilding is used almost exclusively for Intrigue, but it's also a crafty way of getting Relatability as well. Basically every character in the series is trained or ready to face truly horrible things happening to them, in a way that is fairly UNrelatable to regular readers. NOT knowing each character's backstory fully lets us relate to the horrors they experience(because they still feel fear and disgust) without us prematurely distancing ourselves by reasoning that their thinking is too alien for us to relate to.
Witch Hat Atelier also clamps down hard on exposition, using it precisely as the video states about problem solving and raising tension to the climax of character decisions. What each student knows and is taught extends beyond what the reader learns at any particular point in the story, and that's FINE.
David Gemmel's books are really good at world building. There are continual references to other broad events or characters and even if you've read all his stuff there's still a ton of room for you to fill in the gaps
This is pretty well known but I think you'd love the One Piece manga. In my opinion, it's the only piece of media I've seen that can rival Avatar in worldbuilding, story, character, and lore.
I personally don't like to use expossision for explaining a magic/power system. As a reader I like figuring it out myself more then just being given how it works by the author, it gives more room for the reader to feel ingulved in the story and for them to theorize. Yes you can leave hints off how it works, but don't give every espect off the magic system.
An example of a beautifully world-built series would be the Children of the Desert book series by Leona Wisoker. Some people say she goes a bit overboard, but in my opinion it was unique and vibrant and didn't get in the way of the story. Anything extra she put in an index at the end, so the reader could choose for themselves if they wanted to delve deeper.
I can not stress this enough: Make sure your text has an outline of an opposing color. White text? Black outline. Red text? Try blue.
6:49 Sorry to Harry Potter lovers, but this is the reason why JK Rowling needs to start keeping her mouth shut. Her worldbuilding is not the strongest when held under scrutiny, but the more that's left unknown, the more readers can explain elements of her world to their own satisfaction. The more she tries to exposit, the shakier her world becomes. (I feel like the explanation for the Obscurus in the Fantastic Beasts movie is basically akin to the Midi-chlorians explanation in Star Wars.)
I think the best kind is where a movie or TV show displays how things generally work like how Prisoner Zero have suit that can fire off energy blasts via punching or kicking like a sort of kenetic energy but amplified.
Hell, Dragon Ball's actually done it pretty well as described here where we absorb the new worlds rather than get all info-dumpy: ruclips.net/video/xJdjT04LPxk/видео.html&t=33s
i'm thinking about doing, for a first draft, a kitchen-sink approach, where i add AS MUCH WORLDBUILDING as i could possibly conceive of, and then when i've basically all but exhausted myself..... pare back, using a precision scalpel to do it justice.
any thoughts on this?
Two examples of good world building are the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud and The Inheritance Trilogy (no, not THAT one) by N.K. Jemisin. Both use different sources for magic than the usual and it's intriguing. Also, anything by Neil Gaiman.
Are you going to watch Aaron Ehasz's new show "The Dragon Prince"? It looks like a cross between Avatar and Tolkien's stories.
Mother of Learning by Nobody 103 is a world building masterpiece. Free online novel, just look it up.
Warrior Cats by Erin Hunter is my favorite, it perfectly etablishes the World its in and shows you with the unnoledgeble Charakter (english is not my first language so I hope thats right)
Even though it might not be someone’s first choice, I really like the world building of Scythe by Neal Shusterman. Throughout the series even more is revealed and things aren’t blatant. You find out humanity conquered death not because the characters tell you, but because the second chapter starts with a character waiting for his friend to wake up after he died. Extra aspects of the world are revealed only when relevant, like the class of Unsavory. I just love the world in general and would heavily recommend it as a series to read
I don't think this world is not well know, but I just don't think I've heard you mention it yet, Narnia is what truly brought me into fantasy.
The midichlorians were actually kind of important (in a way that makes them more infuriating for most people) - the Jedi council had massive misgivings about taking on Anakin for Jedi training, and his massive midichlorian count is why they overruled not only their vague feelings of foreboding about Anakin but also their normal recruitment rules (age, etc).
More infuriating for sure. Anakin should have had a strength of character and virtues that swayed them instead, I think. I can only imagine that to all his fellow initiates he was that infuriating kid who was naturally great at everything but still whinged because he didn't get enough credit.
The problem with "strength of character and virtues" is that Anakin has to fall to the Dark Side by the end of Episode III in order to set up Episode IV-VI.
@@ChrisSmith-xw5vw That's a valid standpoint, but a good, strong character can still turn bad. Just look at the Shakespeare plays that Lucas is reaching for in III; Macbeth is very much a hero until he's corrupted, and looking further afield Sauron and Saruman have similar starting points. That's where the tragedy of the fall would come from if Anakin weren't a pain in the backside whose main appeal was that he was special and talented.
Idealism and a desire for power to protect others could have been the starting point for Anakin's fall, only for that to break down into something nakedly evil as he's corrupted.
For these watch The Hero’s Journey, The Shadow’s Journey, and The Hermit’s Journey at sfdebris.com
Made in abyss the anime has a pretty interesting world building or maybe it's just the world that distracts me :D
Books by Sarah J Mass have a pretty effortless feeling world building as it's it's high fantasy and there is a lot to build, but as you read you never really feel like you're having all this information crammed into you, you just notice knowing things.
I'm a big fan of Inkheart and it's been a long time since I read them but I remembered being very immersed in the world.
I honestly have no problem with the phantom menace example but a lot of people hate it so I guess it's still a good example
I love Hugo, it's a steampunk story (movie) of sorts but its great
How do you feel about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse where every time another Spider-Person was introduced, they monologued about their backstory to the audience for a few minutes?
11:29 there's also another important part to delivering "between the lines" information, my knowledge of it comes from my game design experience: it makes your reader feel smart when they realize they were right about something you underlined earlier. and it's fantastic to deliver that experience to a player / reader.
also, I'd be glad to hear your pov about "The Black Company" by Glen Cook as it is a book with very to no exposition at the beginning and it was really intimidating to read the beginning as I was kinda confused (I loved it nonetheless)
also, also, thanks so much for this series of video, it's incredibly useful, well paced, full of useful information. I'm writing a story for a video game and I needed that badly :D
Ok, so I love these videos but you got to have more than a split second available for those big silent info dumps in between points. If you increase the time they're up even slightly, it should give a better window for pausing the video without people needing to rewind it.
QOTD: Jim Butcher's Codex Alera has fantastic world-building and far too small an audience, IMO.
At 4:52 you mention Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk and I applaud you sir. I never hear anyone talk about that series. BUT that isn't the cover of the book. That's a totally different author's series.
I didn't know you watched Fate/stay night. Now I'm really curious about your opinion of the show. I loved this video, I usually have problems with exposition and I think that from now on I'll be able to handle it in a better way, thank you.
The Nasuverse, in general, has a lot of world-building, which the Fate animes (Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night) do a good job of not overwhelming the audience with exposition. They are great at only sharing whats important while hinting at a much bigger world.
Mr. Sniffels, just Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay night? or the other ones like Fate/apocrypha or Fate/stay night last encore?
Somber Knight I’ve only seen Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works. I have no idea about the other material.
Mr. Sniffles, ok I have seen only the four (because that is what is on Netflix) and I haven't herd of the Nasuverse before so I thought you must have watched them
Somber Knight nah, I just know that the Nasuverse has a lot of world building, which the anime’s (that I have seen) don’t really touch upon too much. I’ve done some minimum research into the complexities of the Nasuverse a long time ago, but I’m no expert by any means.
Warhammer Fantasy.
As a scientist by education I like the concept of medicholorians. Gives the Force users a kinda X Men/genetic quirk vibe and explains why Force sensitivity tends to run in families.
Not every piece of world building has to have a massive pay off either in my view. I mean as much as stories can be fantastical escapism we want it to be relatable on some level. Has every bit of knowledge you have acquired about the real world been important later on in your life? It just makes for a richer experience and if that is the only purpose of a piece of knowlege/exposition then that's fine.
Well as a writing device it’s both useless and bad considering that yes that does explain how the force runs in family’s but considering the force can do shit like keep you alive after death and give you future visions it’s both inconsistent as well as needless considering despite midiclorians the force is still painted as this all powerful essence so as a story thing it’s inconsistent and badly written
Jenny Sweeney although I do agree about the whole richer experience thing because I think that an informed audience is more appreciative
@@momgirlcop1 Midi-clorians aren´t the force. Its in the name, midi. they´re a medium for the force, just living things with a stronger connection to the force that can be used to channel it.
@@momgirlcop1 Each time I read and hear those things about the midichlorians it looks to me like ethnocentrism.
China and India never stops to be spiritual because of testing empirically and (pseudo)scientifically their hypothesis about their spirituality. Developping technical practices did not stop spirituality there either. In fact it had the contrary effect of tying the practical and the spiritual more and midichlorians had the same effect in the Star Wars' setting and it also had more effects and meanings about what kind of magic the Force truly was.
I'd clearly say that this scene was badly written and lacked subtlety (to such an extent that it hid what it was supposed to reveal and made it excessively mysterious), but I won't say that midichlorians (or their thematics whatever the setting element used to introduce them) in themselves are bad writting. In fact I'd say that them not being there would be inferior writing than introducing them in a better way (like explaining more about jedi spirituality and the specific acceptance problems tied to the Force it poses to Anakin while still posing the Force, the Jedi and their place in the galaxy as being about being interconnected and how to connect correctly, how to accept it, etc without invading the rest of the story). (In the end what the midichlorians had to introduce thematically was so badly introduced that lots of things seemed either idiotic either pompous in the prelogy.)
Phantasma RosePlancton well I certainly agree on that, the whole reason that midichlorians were introduced in the first place was because they were a literary device made for that one scene in phantom menace to explain “oh yeah this kids got a real strong connection to the force”. They’re there just to explain that skywalkers are amazing force sensitives, it falls into the same pitfall as many story’s with bad writing, they tell but don’t show, they just introduce something and say this is like this because of this thing I just told you about. Not to say midichlorians are inherently bad, they’ve been used quite well, Darth palagus the wise for example and that whole shit with the midichlorians and how he could influence them was good. It shows but doesn’t tell, it gives us the story in the form of a myth or suggestion something that isn’t outright stating the truth which is good writing in my opinion
capitalizing on that "Respect your audience" part; a point to bring up later is to underline how important it is to leave blank spaces with interesting concepts. obviously, don't make that for your MOST interesting ones, but just the ones that leave someone wanting more. as creators we WANT to satisfy these itches for our readers, but in doing so we take the joy of theorizing from them.
Consider this: you have a map of your RPG setting with all the places laid out with descriptions in your book of every single village and mystery. this is great for the first step when readers are getting to know your setting, but it leaves a lot to be desired for those who are ALREADY familiar with the setting and wish there was more to see once that setting is fully explored. Now take the idea of just giving them a breadcrumb for the smaller mysteries. here's a little village with the name of an ancient and powerful person stamped on it. it has a tradition from that time. how are they connected? is it tied to the BBEG? a coastline has an unexplained bite taken out of it, is the monstrosity that did it still nearby? how long ago did it take that bite?
Leave these questions unanswered for the final draft. don't kill that sense of wonder with your need to complete everything. keep those in your own world notes and as a secret to you while the readers or players want to know and come up with more satisfying conclusions than you ever will.
My favorite world building is probably the codex Alera series by Jim butcher. He doesn’t use very complicated words but introduces enough at a time that he redefines a set word or what that word can mean within the world.
4:50 - "In 'Magic to the Bone' by Devon Monk..." *shows cover of a different book by a different author*
Don't forget the most important part of world building: To reveal all the details and backstories that you didn't manage to get into your story years later on Twitter so people keep talking about it. Professionally, this method is known as "rowling".
Yeah, even if the information is completely extraneous, sometimes rather awkward, often comes off as agenda pushy, and is something literally no one asked about.
The in-depth analysis of your series is truly remarkable and clever.
Since you showed it, I'm surprised you didn't mention Fate series's world building, which can vary from one of the best in all anime medias or one of the worst depending on the writers.
Fate is hands down the *most* convoluted anime series, which is sort of understandable since the core basic concept started from DnDesque tabletop game, where each character begs to have their own entire character sheet of lengthy ability description and backstory.
But in turn it entail almost every individual Fate character with a specific rule that is only applicable to them and them alone. Each character will have pages and pages worth about the unique magic or physics rules that affect only them alone(Imaginary Number, Counter Guardian, Wraith, Mystic Eyes, Mystic Code, Reality Marble, Bounded Field, spellbooks, being older and therefore stronger, being more famous and therefore stronger, being personified curse, etc).
It attaches every character with their own infodump that barely made you understand how they interact with each other or the world better, they rarely actually factor into problem solvings and many doesn't even serve any special functions beyond their surface appearance(Excalibur is just a beam and functions as any other sword beams in any other animes, yet you can read up a 10 page worth of wiki text explaining how it's the light of hope shared by all warriors or some BS and in the end you still don't have any better understanding of it apart from it being a sword beam). They are details for the sake of having details, just so no character would feel "less special" because they have less details written on them than the others.
It's irritating and is simply derived from the fact the Japanese literally does not have a word that implies convolutedness, so Fate writers often holds a middle school kid's mentality thinking that the more they write the better, more text equals more depth. This doubly goes for later installments of Fate, which tries to use these convoluted details to cover up the fact that their characters are utterly one dimensional and cliched.
Apart from that Fate has the majority of its characters based in mythological and historical figures, and I can go on full essays for how faithfulness to the source origin can make or break a Servant character's writing, but I think my text here is long enough so I'll leave it as is.
The death gate cycle has been one of the best world building I've read as a young adult and parts of it still resonate with me now as I've grown up. There were flaws obviously, but the majority of it was so well executed and really makes me want to be there to explore it even more.
No, readers aren't smart. I'm tired of hearing about this. People are stupid. Do you read comment sections? Most people couldn't grasp theme if it slapped them in the face
Love the videos but I'm hearing impaired and the captions are amusingly wrong a good percentage of the time. Are they auto generated?
Love these videos! One small LotR lore bit, though: the Secret Fire is a part or aspect of Iluvatar, and it's what Melkor looks for in the Void (but he can't find it there because it is inseparable from Iluvatar, and the Void is simply where Iluvatar is not), and the fact that Iluvatar has (or is) this Secret Fire and Melkor does (or is) not is why Iluvatar can create beings (as can his servants) and Melkor can only corrupt or mimic what Iluvatar made.
I think one of my favourite series for worldbuilding exposition is Neal Asher's Polity series. Lots of information is given through short excerpts from in-universe speeches or adverts and such.
Fair Use laws dictate that you don’t need to edit short film clips nearly as much you are in this. You can use a minute to a minute and a half straight easily. You’re not packaging it in the same way either, so you’re doubly safe. I suggest looking up the law. You have more leeway than you think.
Robin McKinley's the blue sword.
One of my all-time favorite books. And one if my favorite authors.
The first chapter has some interesting exposition. You start with her sitting at a breakfast table thinking about how she is the only one there and why it is her habit to do so and then remembering why she is there and how she got their. All of it telling you just as much if not more about her then the world. The rest of the exposition you pick up in tiny pieces as she goes through the story. You even get a bit of a new language as she learns it. And by the end you want to know the legends that they hint at and how they would affect her.
But in general Robin is great at pulling you into a story where you don't know much about the world or the characters and find yourself dieing for more by the end.
The spindle's end is another of my favs. Also by her